Safe With You
by blakeBird
Summary: It wasn't uncommon for Ed to have nightmares and Alphonse Elric knew that better than anyone. Al didn't know how to handle it at first. What could he, a child in a large, bulky suit of armor, do to help? He could only listen helplessly to the sounds of his brother's sobs and his quaking breath. Eventually, though, they found something that comforted the both of them. (Whumptober)


Whumptober is actually my new favorite thing, let me just tell you. So I'm not going to be able to finish all the prompts but I'll get as close as I can.

Today's prompt: insomnia/nightmares

 **xxx**

It wasn't uncommon for Ed to have nightmares, not in the slightest. Alphonse Elric knew that better than anyone. Who hadn't expected that, though, with the amount of trauma he had been through?

Al didn't know how to handle it at first. What could he, a child in a large, bulky suit of armor, do to help? It wasn't like he could offer any physical comfort; not that Edward wanted any part of it. He would either pretend it hadn't happened or he would make Al leave the room, which didn't help muffle the quiet sounds of sobs.

They eventually got past that point, though. It hadn't taken long for them to figure something out that comforted the both of them.

* * *

Alphonse was broken from his thoughts by a throaty whimper coming from the other side of the room, a whimper accompanied by the restless rustling of cheap, military-issued sheets. He could barely pick up the sound of faint, panting breath.

"Brother?" Alphonse sat up from his own bed, swinging his feet over the side slowly. Peering across the darkened room, he could faintly make out the shape of Edward's trembling form, limbs tangled in the blankets around him.

 _Another nightmare? That's the fifth this week..._

The boy tiptoed over to his brother's bed as quietly as he could muster. It was better not to wake him, especially when he was going through especially rough bouts of terror-filled dreams. They had been dormant for a while but now seemed to be having a flare-up, one that left Ed exhausted throughout the day and terrified to fall asleep at night. It had gotten to the point where he considered calling into the military office; there was no way that he was going to let his brother work while in the condition he was in, not if he could help it.

Another helpless whine broke him from his concern. Ed's face was twisted up in fear, tension stiffening his sleeping form. There was a light film of sweat over his face and bare chest which stumbled over breaths like his lungs were failing him. A part of him ached to be able to wake his brother up, to take him away from the mental torment as fast as he could. The other half knew that was a terrible idea though, and that was the only thing that kept him from shaking Ed's shoulders and rousing him from the nightmare he was trapped in. Sometimes he didn't wake up for hours and Alphonse was simply left to watch, pained.

Tonight was not one of those nights, however.

Without warning, Edward bolted upright in the bed with a cry of fear, breathing ragged. He clutched at his chest with his flesh hand, squeezing his eyes shut. The other hand shakily reached out blindly, feeling over the side of the bed. Alphonse took his artificial hand in his own large gauntlet, letting it rest there instead of holding it tight like he wanted to. Any sort of containment made the elder Elric panic more.

Al took his other hand and gently brushed the strands of golden hair and beads of sweat from his brother's face. He let Ed catch his breath for a few minutes, cautiously stroking his hair and supporting his back when he started to tip over, energy drained. The older boy leaned into the cool touch, letting the feel of the metal ground him. Al whispered words of reassurance while Ed visibly tried to keep his tears at bay, occasionally letting out throaty and hoarse whines. After his breathing evened out reasonably, the younger Elric shifted slightly closer. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ed shook his head wordlessly, eyes still closed. His hand was still gripping at his chest trying to contain his madly beating heart. Without saying anything, Alphonse unhinged his metal breastplate, letting it swing open. Edward cracked one of his eyes open at the sound, eyeing the empty cavity of the armor. He shifted, still supported my Al's hands, crawling into the empty space. Alphonse cautiously lowered himself down into the floor, letting his legs stick out in front of him. He pressed close the metal plate, being as gentle as he could with the buckles. He was carrying precious cargo, after all.

They sat like that for a long time, Al listening to his brother breathe and Ed feeling cool metal warm underneath his skin. He sat with his knees drawn up to his chest, cheek pressed up against silver. Edward couldn't care less about how uncomfortable it was or how the sharp metal edges of the inside of the armor pinched his skin and jutted into his back. _He couldn't care less_. Because he knew where he was, he knew that he had his brother. So he let his breath fog the metal as he traced his fingers around the crevices and folds in the hard material. He listened to his own breathing even out and felt his heartbeat return to a steady pace, all in the comfort of his younger brother. Once his skin stopped burning and his head stopped spinning in circles, he whispered one word.

"Okay."

Alphonse hummed in confirmation, his voice reverberating throughout his hollow inside.

And so he started talking.

It didn't matter what as long as he was talking and talking and talking and letting his brother feel his voice. Sometimes he told stories, other times he recounted childhood memories. He had even counted once. He just talked and talked and let his brother sit in silence. This time he decided on a new alchemical theory he had read about the day before. He rambled on about it, everything he could remember, even making some stuff up as he went along; he knew his brother wasn't listening, not really, so it didn't really matter if what he said was true or not.

Edward leaned his head back onto his brother's chest plate, letting the gentle reverberations run through his skull and down his spine. He felt the voice physically, he felt it all over his body: on his skin, in his bones, in his chest, in his ears. Just the precious sound of his brother's voice. All he needed was to feel it to know that he was okay. He was safe from the nightmares and the terror because Alphonse was _right there_ and was _never leaving him, ever._

He had nothing to worry about, nothing to fear.

Because he was safe.

Safe in the loving embrace of the hollow armor, where the only thing he heard was the soothing sound of his brother's voice.

 **xxx**

Okay but can we talk about how much fun I had writing this, I love them so much,,,,,, it's not FaiR,,,,

And I've never written one-shots before and I never knew how much FUN IT IS. Seriously, this is amazing.

If you want more content like this, be sure to check out my other fics. I've got a handful of whumptober prompts, just for you :)))

Thanks for reading, lovelies, and may the power of the Elric bromance be with you.


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